Hilkiah Finds the Book of the Law

⁸ And Hilkiah the high priest said to Shaphan the secretary, “I have found ^(A)the Book of the Law in the house of the Lord.” And Hilkiah gave the book to Shaphan, and he read it. ⁹ And Shaphan the secretary came to the king, and reported to the king, “Your servants have emptied out the money that was found in the house and have delivered it into the hand of the workmen who have the oversight of the house of the Lord.” ¹⁰ Then Shaphan the secretary told the king, “Hilkiah the priest has given me a book.” And Shaphan read it before the king.

¹¹ When the king heard the words of the Book of the Law, ^(B)he tore his clothes. ¹² And the king commanded Hilkiah the priest, and ^(C)Ahikam the son of Shaphan, and ^(D)Achbor the son of ^(E)Micaiah, and Shaphan the secretary, and Asaiah the king's servant, saying, ¹³ “Go, inquire of the Lord for me, and for the people, and for all Judah, concerning the words of this book that has been found. For great is ^(F)the wrath of the Lord that is kindled against us, because our fathers have not obeyed the words of this book, to do according to all that is written concerning us.”

¹⁴ So Hilkiah the priest, and Ahikam, and Achbor, and Shaphan, and Asaiah went to Huldah the prophetess, the wife of Shallum the son of ^(G)Tikvah, son of ^(H)Harhas, keeper of the wardrobe (now she lived in Jerusalem in ^(I)the Second Quarter), and they talked with her. ¹⁵ And she said to them, “Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel: ‘Tell the man who sent you to me, ¹⁶ Thus says the Lord, Behold, I will bring disaster upon this place and upon its inhabitants, all the words of the book that the king of Judah has read. ^17 (J)Because they have forsaken me and have made offerings to other gods, that they might provoke me to anger with all the work of their hands, therefore ^(K)my wrath will be kindled against this place, and it will not be quenched. ¹⁸ But to the king of Judah, who sent you to inquire of the Lord, thus shall you say to him, Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel: Regarding the words that you have heard, ^19 (L)because your heart was penitent, and you ^(M)humbled yourself before the Lord, when you heard how I spoke against this place and against its inhabitants, that they should become ^(N)a desolation and ^(O)a curse, and you ^(P)have torn your clothes and wept before me, I also have heard you, declares the Lord. ²⁰ Therefore, behold, I will gather you to your fathers, and ^(Q)you shall be gathered to your grave in peace, and your eyes shall not see all the disaster that I will bring upon this place.’” And they brought back word to the king.

¹⁰ And he defiled ^(A)Topheth, which is ^(B)in the Valley of the Son of Hinnom, ^(C)that no one might burn his son or his daughter as an offering to ^(D)Molech.^{[a] 11} And he removed the horses that the kings of Judah had dedicated to the sun, at the entrance to the house of the Lord, by the chamber of Nathan-melech the chamberlain, which was in the precincts.^[b] And he burned the chariots of the sun with fire. ¹² And the altars ^(E)on the roof of the upper chamber of Ahaz, which the kings of Judah had made, and the altars ^(F)that Manasseh had made in the two courts of the house of the Lord, he pulled down and broke in pieces^[c] and cast the dust of them ^(G)into the brook Kidron. ¹³ And the king defiled the high places that were east of Jerusalem, to the south of ^(H)the mount of corruption, which Solomon the king of Israel had built for ^(I)Ashtoreth the abomination of the Sidonians, and for ^(J)Chemosh the abomination of Moab, and for ^(K)Milcom the abomination of the Ammonites. ¹⁴ And he broke in pieces the ^(L)pillars and cut down the Asherim and filled their places with the bones of men.

¹⁵ Moreover, the altar at Bethel, the high place erected ^(M)by Jeroboam the son of Nebat, ^(N)who made Israel to sin, ^(O)that altar with the high place he pulled down and burned,^[d] reducing it to dust. He also burned the Asherah. ¹⁶ And as Josiah turned, he saw the tombs there on the mount. And he sent and took the bones out of the tombs and burned them on the altar and defiled it, ^(P)according to the word of the Lord that the man of God proclaimed, who had predicted these things. ¹⁷ Then he said, “What is that monument that I see?” And the men of the city told him, ^(Q)“It is the tomb of the man of God who came from Judah and predicted^[e] these things that you have done against the altar at Bethel.” ¹⁸ And he said, “Let him be; let no man move his bones.” So they let his bones alone, with the bones ^(R)of the prophet who came out of Samaria. ¹⁹ And Josiah removed all the shrines also of the high places that were ^(S)in the cities of Samaria, which kings of Israel had made, provoking the Lord to anger. He did to them according to all that he had done at Bethel. ²⁰ And ^(T)he sacrificed all the priests of the high places who were there, on the altars, ^(U)and burned human bones on them. Then he returned to Jerusalem.

²⁴ Moreover, Josiah put away ^(A)the mediums and the necromancers and ^(B)the household gods and ^(C)the idols and all the abominations that were seen in the land of Judah and in Jerusalem, that he might establish ^(D)the words of the law that were written in the book ^(E)that Hilkiah the priest found in the house of the Lord. ^25 (F)Before him there was no king like him, who turned to the Lord with all his heart and with all his soul and with all his might, according to all the Law of Moses, nor did any like him arise after him.

²⁶ Still the Lord did not turn from the burning of his great wrath, by which his anger was kindled against Judah, ^(G)because of all the provocations with which Manasseh had provoked him. ²⁷ And the Lord said, “I will remove Judah also out of my sight, ^(H)as I have removed Israel, and I will cast off this city that I have chosen, Jerusalem, ^(I)and the house of which I said, My name shall be there.”